Gods and Monsters
by mcnair
Summary: Since the destruction of the Hellmouth, Buffy has had several things on her mind, like a group trying to wipe out her Slayers, the death of Spike, the fact Spike is still alive and being tortured... wait, what? 'Spike was alive, yet she’d seen him die.'


**GODS AND MONSTERS**

written by _time and tea_

* * *

PROLOGUE

* * *

_We have flown too close to the sun,  
And lunacy breeds in silent fire._

* * *

"_Buffy?"_

_The voice was familiar, and yet she wasn't quite sure she was hearing it properly. It had a distinctive accent, much like Giles's but far less common—_

"_Buffy!" It was more frenzied now, lined with desperation and a faint sort of terror. "Buffy—bloody hell, where am I? Buffy?"_

_Turning, the Slayer saw him burning, engulfed in flames with fear echoing in his eyes like invisible fires. She started, swallowing heavily as he thrashed, noting he was bound by chains. "Where the bloody fuck am I, Slayer?"_

_She'd never seen him in this much pain; he was writhing and screaming, head repeatedly slamming against the wall as he struggled and burned. And his screams—she'd never heard him scream before; the noise pierced right through her skull and echoed in her, causing her to shiver. _

_Buffy made to move towards the flames, reaching out towards him, but fell short when the fire snarled and bit at her hand, severely burning her. The feeling of helplessness shot through her, countered by the determination that informed her she'd beaten the First Evil, therefore she could beat a little bit of fire. _

_Just a little bit of fire..._

"_Buffy!" he called again, physically straining against his bonds. She fancied she could smell his fear, stepping through the flames and reaching him finally._

"_I'm here, Spike," she soothed, rattling the chains and searching for a way to free him. "I'm here."_

"_God, Buffy, I—" he cut himself off, swallowing thickly, "—the Twilight, it hurts. It hurts, Buffy. Twilight hurts."_

"_Twilight?" she echoed, tugging at the chains. "What are you—?"_

_Spike burst into flames._

_

* * *

_

Dawn broke over the highlands, framing the citadel in a crown of light, but Buffy had been up long before the sun.

She stared out at her surroundings with a cup of coffee in one hand, torso concealed by a frumpy black jumper, a somewhat vacant expression on her face as her thoughts travelled back to the dream that had caused her to wake up quite suddenly three hours ago. _Spike_, her mind whispered, _Spike is alive_. But he wasn't alive—she'd seen him die. Then again, she'd died twice, so maybe he was just like her in that respect with the whole 'dying and coming back again' deal.

Moving away from the scene of sunrise, the Slayer padded back to her bedroom and showered. Coffee helped her think, but this lack of activity wasn't doing any good either. There was research to be done, Slayers to train, psychics and seers to consult—and here she was standing around drinking coffee. Giles would have frowned and muttered something about how there 'weren't enough hours in the day unless you were slacking' if he had any idea what she was doing now, but he didn't, so that was fine.

After showering and dressing, Buffy headed to control central in order to find the three Scoobies who'd journeyed with her to Scotland following the destruction of Sunnydale. Upon opening the door, she caught Xander and Anya bickering over tactics and a seer helplessly standing by, trying to intervene and cut across them with little luck.

"Seen Will?" she queried, crossing over to them as she spoke. Xander glanced over at her, mock saluting her and shrugging his shoulders at the same time.

"Library, last I saw," he replied, "Say, Buff, what should our next movements be? I'm thinking train up the Slayers some more, but Ahn's all about the killi—slaying of vampires."

Anya beamed at the mention of her name. "Killing is good! Less vampires means less threats, which means less innocent people being sucked dry and dying."

"Thank you for that," Xander murmured, rolling his eyes.

"Train and slay," Buffy answered, halfway across to the door that led to the library, "But no slaying until they're ready."

"Told you, Ahn," the Scooby grinned, slinging an arm over Anya's shoulder. She pouted heavily in response, subtly leaning into the embrace as the two of them watched Buffy leave. "Always listen to the Watcher. I may not be old and stuffy like Giles, but I've got knowledge."

"I might turn you _into _Giles," the ex-demon huffed, wriggling away from him. "If I still had my powers, of course—the library probably has some spells—"

"Uh-uh," he chided, wrapping his arms around her, "I'm not ready to be a stuffy and old yet."

* * *

Willow was in the library, just like Xander had said, which really didn't surprise Buffy at all. She found the redhead surrounded by stacks of books, studying one intently whilst completely ignoring everything else around her—this didn't surprise Buffy either.

"Hey, Will," she chirped, offering a tired smile as the witch's head popped up almost instantaneously.

"Buffy!" she exclaimed, clearing space for the blonde to sit down. "What's up?"

Perching on the edge of the desk, Buffy shrugged and folded her arms. "The usual – Xand and Anya bickering about what's best to do next, Slayer training, having dreams about Spike burning... yeah, the usual."

"Spike?" Trust Willow to pick up on it instantly; Buffy's smile faded slightly and she nodded. "You've been dreaming about him burning?"

"That's the general gist of it, yep." She picked some lint off her top and pulled a face. "He was talking about Twilight."

"But if he's dead, how does he—?"

"Not sure," Buffy answered, shrugging again. "Could you look into it for me? I want to... make sure he's dead."

"Or see if he's alive, and if you can help," Willow added, lifting her chin slightly. She reached over to touch the Slayer's hand. "Don't worry, I'll look into it for you. Try to, at least—it's a bit vague. Giles said most prophetic dreams were."

"You think it's prophetic?"

"Well, if he knows about Twilight..." the redhead sighed, setting the book aside. "Then again, it could be your subconscious doing some work, trying to figure stuff out."

A beat of silence passed between them. "Maybe," Buffy concluded. "How's the magic stuff going?"

"Good! It's good. Hard, but good. Very rewarding, too." Her smile warmed Buffy, and she couldn't help but smile back. "Have you told Giles about these dreams?"

Shaking her head, Buffy didn't need to answer in order to tell Willow she hadn't. "I might," she confessed, "but it might just be nothing, you know?"

"I do." Closing the book, Willow reached for another. "It wouldn't hurt to tell him, I guess. Oh—Rona sent a message from New York. Riley hasn't been seen since your rendezvous."

"Thanks, Will," came Buffy's response as she rose from the desk, sighing. "Things are just getting better and better." The note of sarcasm in her voice wasn't missed by her friend.

"Things will get better!" the witch admonished, frowning lightly. "We just need to figure out what Twilight is, and I need to start looking at this dream of yours. Shall I get Dawnie on it, too?"

"Sure. Is she with the other Slayers?"

"I think so. She's probably eating breakfast with them right now."

"Thanks," Buffy murmured, shifting away from the witch and her vast collection of books. "Call me if you find anything!"

Watching her go, Willow stood up and began to put the books away. "Will do," she responded to the empty place where Buffy had previously stood, searching for new volumes as she scanned the shelves; "might even teleport to you or something. Test out these shiny new powers."

* * *

"He's awake!"

"I can tell."

"Well, torture him some more!"

"No, we're meant to question him and _then _torture him. Haven't you been listening?"

"Fine, question him."

A pause. Shuffling. "Hey." _Prod_. "Hey, we've got some questions."

Silence. "Yeah, well, I've got a few of my own."

"_Warren_, start interrogating him!"

"Shut _up_."

"Fine."

"Alright, vampire. Tell us where the Slayer is or we'll throw you out into the sunlight."

* * *

_In all honesty, this is my first Buffy fic. It has elements of 'Season 8' in it, as you can probably tell if you've had the chance to Google or read Season 8. I haven't actually read it, I've simply incorporated some of it into this story. It's fine if you haven't read Season 8, this story doesn't follow it or revolve around it, and I'll explain things as I go along. I really, really would love reviews and critique, because I've never written anything Buffyverse, so I'm really not sure if any of the characters are... you know, in character. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much!_


End file.
